Madison Bognanno

I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from MidAmerica Nazarene University (*I have no personal affiliation to the Nazarene church). I believe therapy is a safe space where individuals are able to lay themselves bare without any judgment. Therapy is a space where every person is met with unconditional acceptance and empathy. I believe that as humans in a chaotic world, we need connection and relationship to heal. My goal is to always sit in the boat with my clients through all the good, bad, and the ugly, so that they know they are never alone. Becoming a therapist has been the most beautiful, sacred, and fulfilling thing I could have ever done. 

 

My Approach to Therapy

I use an integrative and holistic approach to therapy as no single type of therapy always work for everyone. I am attachment-focused and trauma-informed. I also use somatic/body-based work and psychodynamic theory in my approach to therapy. What does all of that mean? Well, I believe most people have some kind of trauma (developmental, attachment, relational, and/or shock trauma) or wounding that needs processing. Concerning attachment-focused and psychodynamic work, I focus on background and history of early experiences, particularly with primary attachment figures. The child-parent relationship is one of the most significant factors in predicting one’s mental and emotional health and well-being in life. However, many parents have their own trauma and wounding that was never properly addressed, so the cycle repeats. Many clients come to me and say they do not understand why they feel so “bad” because they had a “good” childhood. As Gabor Maté declared, “you could be fed, clothed, and housed, but if your emotions are not attuned to- that’s traumatic.” One of the most common traumas is a lack of secure attachment and emotional attunement from one’s primary caregivers in childhood. In other words, “ordinary moments” can leave extraordinary wounds. 

 

While understanding the past is significant, it is also important to work with trauma in the present. Meaning, in my work with clients, I help identify how older survival strategies and patterns of coping are still present in their daily lives even though they are no longer in a traumatic environment or stuck in a traumatizing relationship like they once were. In both unveiling past wounds and working with trauma responses in the present, the connection with your body is imperative in increasing your well-being. When trauma or deep wounding occurs, we typically become disconnected from our minds, feelings, and bodies. A large part of my work with clients is reconnecting back with themselves, including integration of thoughts, feelings, and physiological sensations in the body. The body (nervous system) always holds our traumas, it’s time to listen to it. Even as you read this, what do you notice come up in your body? What resonates with you, and how do you know it resonates? 

 

*I start Somatic Experiencing (SE) training in July of 2025. Click on the link here to learn more about it: https://traumahealing.org/about/ 

 

Areas of Focus 

I am passionate about working with adolescents, adults, and couples who struggle with an array of problems: complex trauma, shock trauma, chronic pain and chronic illnesses, chronic stress, depression, anxiety, substance use disorders, personality disorders, grief and loss, low self-worth/low confidence, poor boundaries, emotion dysregulation, identity problems, lack of connection with self and others, deep loneliness, and many more. I am LGBTQIA+ affirming and understanding everyone’s diverse and unique experiences is incredibly important to me.